3D Game Development with Blender

Build anything you can imagine, and make fun 3D games!

Created by: Andy Harris
Teacher, Author, Game Developer

What Will I Learn?

• Build 3D models suitable for any game engine
• Manipulate a 3D environment
• Create custom mesh objects - vehicles, humanoids, animals
• Use UV mapping for realistic color effects
• Build basic procedural textures and bake them to UVs
• Create terrain, sky maps, and ground textures
• Create timeline-based animations (moving platforms, doors)
• Use shape keys to modify a mesh (moving eyes and mouth, for example)
• Create a basic skeleton rig and animate a character with it
• Combine various animations into actions
• Master the blender game engine logic bricks
• Get user input from mouse, keyboard, and joystick
• Manage collisions through bounding boxes, raycasting, and convex hull
• Use dynamic physics for realistic motion and collisions
• Dynamically create and destroy objects
• Track properties for scorekeeping, inventory, time
• Create scene overlays for dynamic HUD elements
• Display dynamic text on the HUD
• Write Python code for better control
• Use Python to manage joysticks and mouse with more finesse
• Generate a realistic car rig with suspension, acceleration, brakes, and emergency brakes
• Create a basic FPS with mouselook, jumping, and (of course) weaponry.

Requirements

• Please download and install a recent version of Blender (2.76 or greater.) You can use any desktop operating system. Blender is completely free software.
• You may also want an image editor like Gimp (free) or Photoshop (definitely not free.)

Target audience

• This is a great course for people wanting to make a 3D game.
• No art, 3D, or programming experience is necessary.
• If you've had high school algebra, you'll see it in use here. If not, I'll show you as we go. No boring math problems. We're blowing stuff up here.
• The course is fine for motivated kids. I'm a Dad, so be ready for a few bad Dad jokes and a lot of family-friendly fun.
• It's also good for adults, because after dealing with reality all day, who doesn't want to catapult cows over castle walls or whatever, right?